Players with little-to-no knowledge of roulette should note that this game has the greatest variety of casino-originated peculiarities among all the other table games. These quirks have a considerable impact on gameplay, and as such, there is an array of playing techniques that players might want to take into consideration.
At some casinos there are floor supervisors, who will use a number of tricks in order to obstruct those players, trying to project the spot where the ball may land or players who have been exceedingly lucky.
In the current article, we will focus our attention on matters including biases of wheels and why the speed at which wheelheads rotate is important.
The Case with Biased Wheels
Generally speaking, all roulette wheels should be devices of randomness, but is this the case with casino practice in reality?
The majority of casinos worldwide tend to use roulette wheels of extremely high quality, wheels that are balanced with high precision. Regardless of that, roulette wheels are not entirely immune to small abnormities, which, after a period of continuous use, could lead to certain non-random characteristics. If such non-random traits have become quite apparent, a vigilant player may be able to take advantage of them.
When it comes to roulette wheels, a lot of people assume that they are 100 percent random devices, because the ball and the wheel head rotate in the opposite directions. Well, that is not the case. Almost every roulette wheel in casinos worldwide tend to have particular biases. These biases usually occur by accident, but this does not mean that roulette wheels cannot be set up deliberately, so that they spin particular colors or even, numbers.
As the major objective of every player is to gain the upper hand against the house, one way to do that is to use the particular bias of a particular wheel. However, finding a roulette wheel with a strong enough bias in order to neutralize the advantage of the house is not an easy task.
We should also point out that no matter what little ploys casino managers and floor supervisors may use in order to hinder exceedingly lucky players, they will not be sufficient against a largely-biased roulette wheel. The only way casinos can deal with a biased wheel is either to have it fixed, or to remove it from the floor. However, in case a particular wheel turns out to be quite a good profit generator, do you think the casino will have it dumped? Hardly.
The Case with Wheel Head Speed
The majority of elite casinos usually have their roulette wheels maintained with care. At those casinos, dealers usually keep the wheel head rotating at a relatively slow speed (each revolution lasts 3-4 seconds). This way the winning number can be easily spotted, while the possibility of the ball being thrown out of the wheel head is practically reduced to a minimum.
Roulette Surrender Rule
Useful Tips for Beginners in Roulette
Biased Wheels and Wheelhead Speed
Ball Bouncing, Switching, Aiming and Speed
American Roulette
However, that is not the case with smaller casinos. Roulette wheels at such places may not be maintained carefully enough, which, at times, may cause the wheel to decelerate rapidly (because of worn-out bearings, for instance).
In order to make up for such a deficiency, the dealer may need to keep the wheel head spinning at a faster pace. It is the wheel head speed, which managers at those casinos consider as a crucial factor behind their profits. They tend to believe that faster wheel head rotation will surely make the game more difficult for players to beat. At some point, the wheel head may be rotating so rapidly, that when the ball drops into a pocket, the pocket number may not be identified. In such a case, the dealer will have no other option but to slow the wheel head down, so that he/she could announce the winning number.
Best Online Roulette Bonuses
At some casinos, floor supervisors are aware of the fact that players, who use visual prediction equipment, need the wheel head spinning at a particular speed if they are to get accurate results. However, supervisors do not know for certain what that speed is. In order to counter such player moves, supervisors will usually instruct the dealer to make the wheel head spin at a different speed regularly. This would cause an impact on visual trackers, but not on a computerized prediction system.
These are not the only quirks of roulette. In the next article, we will discuss a few more, which are mostly linked to the ball.